Hi Justin, welcome to bonsai. I know what you mean about conflict - kind of like 3 doctors and 10 opinions! First, the fact your house is heated (as are all of ours all winter north of ... the south, is a relatively good thing, good for keeping tropicals from freezing, but unless it's also humidified properly (or you use wide humidity trays full of stones and water with pots on the stones - never touching water so roots don't rot) you're asking for trouble with leaves just drying out, spider mites moving in (they're not spiders, but do love dry conditions), etc. Secondly, your creative side is a great thing, but do remember you're dealing with living things, not all amenable to your ideas as they have their own growth habits/patterns, sometimes requiring a constant fight (or lifelong, unattractive branch wiring vs a few mos.) with the trees. As well, bonsai is an old and well developed culture with some basic tenets that, if you're going to call what you do 'bonsai', you should respect. There are people who break the rules (Google Nick Lenz and see his work!) but then they first learned them well and understand which break interestingly and which are just a mess, a massacre, an abomination rather than bonsai. There are many traditional and accepted styles used, not all of which fit all trees, and not all of which are rigidly adhered to, but most of which are generally aimed for, with only minor 'changes' made to accommodate a particular tree's own growth, to take advantage of its special trunkline for instance, or (more often, probably) just because the grower is just not very adept. I hate to say it, but your branches-spiralling-around idea may be artistically pleasing, but it certainly isn't a traditional, or even accepted newer style. The aim of bonsai is to simulate, emulate real trees in nature, not to make the trees look like 'bonsai'. They should evoke feelings in the viewer of e.g. rugged cliffs in the mist, a forest grouping, an ancient and gnarled tree growing around a rock, etc. If you chose to use trees as artistic creations outside of anything 'bonsai', of course you're free to do it, but apart from maybe not calling them 'bonsai' (please :-) for the sake of keeping the culture's integrity) you will still need to understand a lot about growing trees and what they will put up with and what not. You need to learn how to water properly - nothing like what you'd do for a house plant and probably the hardest thing to 'get' in growing tropicals (only ones suitable for indoors), plus how to mix up the most suitable ingredients for growing them in - potting soil won't do at all, when to do what work on them - even indoor trees have some notion of seasons, dormancy, etc., and all about possibly expensive lighting set-ups. Go to www.bonsaihunk.us/cultural.html and read your head off - it's an excellent place to learn about tropicals, and a slightly less in depth place like www.bonsai4me is also good. Come back here and say what you think afterward!